Desperate Measures

Chapter 26 - Neville's Summer

Draco Malfoy came to visit Neville Longbottom on July 31. It was the first full day of Neville's adulthood and Draco was counting on Longbottom responding like the man he now was and not reject out of the hand the proposal that was going to be presented to him. Draco announced himself to the house elf that came to let him in to the manor and half a minute later was being escorted outside and to the master of the house.

Draco admired the gardens as he was led through them and towards a large greenhouse; they were different than the Malfoy gardens, more wild, but still beautiful. Longbottom obviously took very good care of them. There was a small patio in front of the greenhouse that held a small stone-top table and two chairs of white-painted ironwork. He could see Longbottom washing his hands and face in the tall thin fountain off to the side of the patio.

As he stepped onto the patio a second house-elf arrived and placed a tea set on the table before going over to Longbottom and holding out a towel.

Draco waited until the other man had finished drying his face and hands then said, "Good morning, Longbottom. I hope I'm not interrupting anything urgent."

"Good morning, Malfoy," Neville said as he returned the towel to the attending elf. "Just some harvesting, not to worry. What brings you to my estate?" He gestured Malfoy over to the table and took the opposite seat. He wondered just what Malfoy was doing here. If he was here about Harry, he was going to be awfully disappointed. He poured tea for them both.

Draco accepted the tea that was passed to him and took a polite sip before setting down the cup and pulling out a scroll from his robe pocket. He placed the pristine white scroll with its silver ribbon in front of his host.

Neville froze in shock.

Draco finally got impatient as Longbottom continued to stare speechlessly. "For Merlin's sake, Longbottom, it's not going to bite you."

Neville was startled out of his stunned astonishment and looked up at Malfoy in amazement. "That's a betrothal contract," he said.

"So it is," Draco said. "One I'd like you to seriously consider."

Neville paused for several moments before responding. This had not been expected. "Just whom do you have the right to bargain for, Malfoy?" he asked, still very much surprised.

Draco looked off to the side for a moment before turning his eyes back to Longbottom. "Pansy Parkinson," he said.

Neville stared at his guest in disbelief. "What about her father?" he asked in confusion.

Draco sneered and said, "He lost all his paternal rights to her. I saw to that."

"What did you do, Malfoy?" Neville asked, curiosity now blending with his overall astonishment at the situation.

"I initiated the Rite of Forfeit," Draco said and raised his chin defiantly.

"You didn't!" Neville's squeaked. "That was really dangerous."

Draco snorted in derision. "It wasn't dangerous at all," he refuted. "The man had positively relinquished his rights as her father. I know what all the books say; that it can take hours for magic to judge the situation and that you feel like you've been attacked by a score of bludgers afterwards. But it wasn't like that for me. The whole process took only a couple of minutes and it wasn't harsh at all. It was that unequivocal."

"Merlin," Neville breathed. He didn't want to think about what the situation must have been for a result like that but was afraid that he already knew. "Is this why you were, uh..."

"Such a prick in school?" Draco finished in amusement. "Yes, actually. I needed to watch out for Pansy, but with my father still in control of me...Well, let's just say that he often used Pansy as a guarantee of my appropriate behavior."